Downshire Diary – (80) Birthday Surprise

 

At the western end of the Finchbottom Vale lay the small market town of Childean and on the outskirts was the Dancingdean Spa Hotel.

The manager was Ian Ferguson and he was 28 years old and his father was owned a substantial share in the Hotel which influenced the decision to appoint him.

However it may have been nepotism that got him the job but it was his hard work and diligence that kept him in place and his choice of old school friend Declan Hughes as his assistant certainly didn’t hurt. 

Declan also made one or two inspired appointments Mark Humphreys and Rachel Hunt as Hospitality manager and assistant respectively and they worked as a very effective team although at times it wasn’t entirely clear who managed who.

The Sarah Busby birthday surprise fiasco was a good case in point.  

 

Sarah was a big Afro Caribbean woman who worked in the hotel kitchen and had worked there for more than 20 years.

She was also celebrating her 50th birthday which was why a large bouquet of flowers was to be delivered to the hotel and presented to her for her birthday.

However to all involved the hospitality manager, Mark Humphreys had given her the day off.

“Well you’ll have to take them round to her house” Rachel said crossly

“Can’t we just give them to her tomorrow” he said

“Oh give me strength” she retorted

“Is that a no then?” he asked

“Men” she snapped and slammed his office door

“I’d better take them round then” he said to himself

 

As it was a nice summer afternoon he decided to walk into Childean and deliver the flowers.

He walked up the path to Sarah’s house and knocked on the door but when it opened, instead of the round and jovial Sarah he was greeted by someone altogether different, younger, skinnier and prettier.       

“Hello” he said with surprise

“Can I help?” she asked

“I was looking for Sarah” he asked, and indicating the flowers. 

“I’m afraid aunty has gone out for the day” she said

“Your Aunty?” he asked

“Yes” she replied “I’m staying with her for a while”

“I’m Mark Humphreys from the Hotel” he said

“I’m Michele” she said and smiled because her aunty had told her all about him and how nice he was.

“Why don’t you come in?”

“Ok” he said recognizing the look on her face

She led him into the sitting room while she went into the kitchen to put the flowers in water.

Michele Singer was a few years younger than he, tall and slim with thick back hair, she was a skinny girl but not in a boney way she just had a skinny frame.

Her eyes were big and almost black and she had a huge toothy smile, which lit up the whole of Childean.

“Would you like tea or coffee?” She called from the kitchen

 

The next two hours passed by really quickly as they sat in the lounge chatting and he would have stayed longer had he not received a phone call from his assistant Rachel asking where the hell he was.

“I have to get back to the Hotel I’m afraid”

“Oh that’s a shame” she said “I was rather enjoying our chat”

“Yes me too”

“Are you free this evening?” Michelle asked hopefully “I could feed you”

“That would be lovely” he said as he stepped outside “7.30?”

 

Michele cooked him a lovely meal which they ate leisurely accompanied by a liberal amount of wine and after he had helped her clear away they returned to the lounge where she steered him to one of the armchairs and pushed him down and as he sat down he pulled her down with him so she was sitting on his lap.

Because she was so tall, her head was above his, and smiled at his upturned face and then she kissed him.

Downshire Diary – (79) The Matchmakers Match

 

Olivia Conway was a theatre sister at the Winston Churchill Hospital and she was a rather ordinary looking middle-aged woman just the wrong side of 50.

Olivia was five foot six inches tall and very trim, and stood an inch or so taller in her shoes, and her sisters uniform fitted her to perfection, tapered at the waist where the broad belt sat.

Her once strawberry blonde hair was now peppered with grey.

She was always smiling, but the ageing in her face wasn’t all due to laughter lines, life’s hardships and experiences were etched into her face as well, each line and furrow an event and for those who could read such signs it was like her résumé.

She was well-liked and respected at work and many of her colleagues were close friends outside of work.

But when she chose to she could be a private person and didn’t talk about everything in her private life and when she was outside of work she didn’t discuss every aspect of her work.

She had lived in the small Downshire village of Clarence in the Finchbottom Vale for 20 years and was believed to be a lonely soul as she lived alone and had never married.

When she wasn’t working long hours at the Winston Churchill she was heavily involved with Mary of Bethany church and she was very popular with the other congregants.

 

Olivia was by profession a care giver and in the village she was considered to be an angel of mercy because she would, in her own time, visit parishioners in need, she was also a matchmaker and a good one to boot.

But as good as she undoubtedly was at bringing other people together she always accepted that the sweet romances she engineered were what other people could have but not her, she wished it wasn’t so but she was resigned to it. 

But she was wrong.

 

Mark Reid was an oncology Doctor from the Winston Churchill who, along with his wife Carol, had been Olivia’s friend for many years and she had been his greatest support over the two years since he was widowed but not in the manner that she would have liked.

 

Since Mark was widowed he threw himself into his work and his patients and every time he lost another one he had to grieve all over again.

It all came to a head when 11 year old Steve Wiltshire succumbed to leukemia and he broke down completely, luckily Olivia was on hand and made sure no one else witnessed his distress.

At the end of her shift she managed to sneak Mark down in the goods lift and drove him to her home in Clarence, and on the journey home she offered to put him up and he offered no objection.

 

Olivia put Mark up in the spare room and settled him into bed and he stayed there for three days and only on the fourth day he did leave the room.

 

Mark lay in his bed, as he had since he arrived in Clarence, wishing he was in hers.

Since Carol died Olivia had been a great support to him which was greatly appreciated but over the last 12 months that appreciation had turned to love.

He did nothing about it however, as much as he wanted her, in case it ruined their friendship, which he valued greatly.

Also he didn’t want her to think less of him, he was not aware of the disposition of her own heart, if he had been he would have acted sooner.

But as he lay there on his fourth day in Clarence he chastised himself for his cowardice and decided to take decisive action so he waited until he heard her go downstairs and got out of bed, and made himself presentable.

 

Washed and shaved he opened his bedroom door and quietly left his room and crossed the landing to the top of the stairs and tiptoed down the stairs and thought he could hear something in the kitchen, so he crept to the kitchen door, which was slightly ajar, and then he looked in and he could see Olivia standing at the counter making a hot drink and he smiled, because she was wearing blue and white-striped pajamas, the old fashioned ones with a drawstring around the waist.

He walked quietly up behind her and lightly placed his hands on her waist and she gasped and leant back in his arms.

“You made me jump”

“Sorry” he said but his hands remained on her waist and she was still leant against him.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked

“I will be soon” he replied and turned her to face him

“Oh” she exclaimed and then he kissed her

And what a kiss it was, long and languid and full of latent passion and when it ended Olivia relaxed in his arms and he confessed.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long”

“Me too” she murmured

 

Later that day as they lay in her bed cuddling in the afterglow Olivia was feeling very pleased with herself for a job well done, firstly because she had finally got the man she had been in love with for years, secondly because she had not had to take the initiative, he had very definitely wanted her so finally the match maker had her match.

Downshire Diary – (78) In the Afterglow

 

It was in the late 1980’s when Gerry Cooper, a Uniform Police Constable in Finchbottom, was on holiday with a group of fellow officers.

They were staying in an apartment on the Island of Andros in the Cyclades chain.

It was a quiet island due to the fact it was a two hour ferry ride from the mainland but Gordon thought it was worth it.

 

The lads had been there for two days when quite by chance they met up with some familiar faces.

A group of girls from the Vale and among them was Jane Hull, a girl he had known since nursery school and one whom he had never looked at twice.

Not that she was unattractive, on the contrary she was lovely looking but the truth was that he just didn’t like her and never had, and he always believed the feeling was mutual, but as it turned out he was mistaken. 

 

It was a blistering hot day and the rest of his mates were taking the ferry to Tinos to visit the monastery, not that they particularly wanted to go, it was just that they had got involved with the group of girls from home.

Gerry hadn’t got involved with anyone and so didn’t fancy a trip to a monastery so he feigned a headache and cried off.

He was also trying to avoid Jane Hull, who he had manage to bump into more often than he was happy with.

So having her spend the day on an island two hours away would have been a refreshing change.

As it turned out though, due to the heat he did develop a headache and went to his room to lay down.

He went straight to sleep and awoke some time afterwards to find someone chewing on his earlobe.

His first thought was to ask himself who the hell it was that was lying next to him performing on his ear, but that thought was soon overtaken by the one that was just grateful for it, and anyway he got his answer after a few pleasurable minutes when she desisted and a blonde haired girls face suddenly appeared a few inches in front of him.

“You” he said

“Yes, do you mind?” Jane asked

“Strangely no” he replied and with his acquiescence she kissed him.

   

Gerry got out of bed and left Jane sleeping and went to the kitchen to get drinks.

Jane lay serenely in the afterglow, the sweat of earlier passions spent had evaporated and was no more and her tousled blond hair framed a peaceful face with the red glow that had previously graced her cheeks no longer visible.
Her eyes were resting, her mouth open slightly and her full lips still moist, and on her pale smooth skin no hint remained of what had passed.
The contortions of orgasm which were earlier etched into her innocent face lingered no more, but he thought they would soon be present again.
She lay beneath a silken sheet stretched more tightly across her breasts showing them in sharp relief.
The cool evening air from the open window aroused her nipples which then stood proud through the taught silk and she murmured in her sleep.

Gerry was in bed next to her, nibbling her ear lobe, when she awoke and they made love again.

Downshire Diary – (77) Oh Carole

 

Carole Bean went to the University of Downshire where she studied English at Abbottsford and it was for her, like many girls of her age, a life defining time.

She was in halls for the first year and she shared with three other girls

Amy Coates, a tall big busted girl, Alison Holmes, a skinny girl with a bad case of OCD and Claire Jarvis a quiet busty brunette.

All four of the girls were studying English in one form or another and apart from their studies they also had in common the fact they were all natives of the Finchbottom Vale.

Claire was from Purplemere, Carole from Childean, Alison from   Finchbottom and Amy from Shallowfield.

The friendship that resulted from, on the face of it, 4 very different characters coming together, lasted for their lifetimes and as they got on so well the four of them decided very early on to rent a house between them for the second and third years.

However of all the girls, Carole found herself drawn most to Claire Jarvis.

The fact that the two of them had more lectures and seminars together than the other two partly aided their closeness but it was mainly because they got each other, they shared a sense of humour as well as having similar tastes in music, a love of pizza and old romantic comedies.

But what really drew them together in her first year was something that would define her world and shake her to the core.

It happened during the Easter Holiday of their first year when Carole returned to the flat to discover Claire laying naked on the sofa and Carole couldn’t take her eyes off of her and when Claire discovered that she had an audience Carole couldn’t keep her hands off her either and they made love for the first time.

Allthough neither of them could fully come to terms with the fact that they might be gay it didn’t prevent them from adding to their lesbian experiences throughout their University years and the fact that they were in love but unsure of their true sexuality they still kept a foot in both camps by dating men as well but when it came down to the love making they still prefered each other.

 

The only time Carole really got animal pleasure with a man was in the summer before the start of her second year.

It was early August and the weather was hot and sultry and so was she, normally when she was feeling like that she had Claire on hand.

On that hot August day though Claire was at home in Purplemere for her grandmothers funeral.

Carole had the house to herself most of the time, Claire was at the funeral, Alison had gone swimming of all things, and Amy was doubtless with her boyfriend Mark enjoying each other, or so she thought but they returned during the afternoon and started enjoying  eachother the moment they arrived, and they were not quiet about it when they were doing it, and listening to the grunting and moaning  just made her hornier.

 

Carole decided to try a cold shower, which did indeed cool her down but not where it mattered and Mark was still going at Amy hell for leather directly above her head.

So she decided to go and get a drink of water but when she walked into the kitchen she found she was not alone.

“Who are you?” she barked

“Kevin” he replied nervously

“Yes but who are you?”

“I’m Marks brother” he said “He’s with…”

“Yes I know who he’s with and what he’s doing to her”

She said and Kevin blushed 

“How old are you?”

“17” he replied “And a half”

“You’ll do then” she said and dropped her towel

Kevins eyes popped out like they were on stalks and his mouth fell open.

Carole had a lovely body as Claire could testify too and it was obviously he hadnt seen one like it before.

“Do you like what you see Kevin?”

And Kevin stared open mouthed in response.

 

After she had finished taking Kevin’s Cherry seated on a kitchen chair, Carole climbed off him wearing a self-satisfied look on her face and picked up her towel and just before she went out the door and said

“You can get dressed again now”

Downshire Diary – (76) The Matchmaker

 

Olivia Conway was a theatre sister at the Winston Churchill Hospital and she was a rather ordinary looking middle-aged woman just the wrong side of 50.

Olivia was five foot six inches tall and very trim, and stood an inch or so taller in her shoes, and her sisters uniform fitted her to perfection, tapered at the waist where the broad belt sat.

Her once strawberry blonde hair was now peppered with grey.

She was always smiling, but the ageing in her face wasn’t all due to laughter lines, life’s hardships and experiences were etched into her face as well, each line and furrow an event and for those who could read such signs it was like her résumé.

She was well-liked and respected at work and many of her colleagues were close friends outside of work.

But when she chose to she could be a private person and didn’t talk about everything in her private life and when she was outside of work she didn’t discuss every aspect of her work.

She had lived in the small Downshire village of Clarence in the Finchbottom Vale for 20 years and was believed to be a lonely soul as she lived alone and had never married.

When she wasn’t working long hours at the Winston Churchill she was heavily involved with Mary of Bethany church and she was very popular with the other congregants.

 

Olivia was by profession a care giver and in the village she was considered to be an angel of mercy because she would, in her own time, visit parishioners in need, she was also a matchmaker.

Which was why she was visiting Tim Sharpe to try and rally his spirits.

There was nothing physically wrong with Tim, but he was depressed, he was 35 years old and had just lost his beloved wife Debbie to breast cancer and the light in his world had been extinguished so Olivia had decided to relight his candle and show him there were still things in this world worth living for.

 

The Cancer may have been responsible for taking his wife but to Olivia’s mind Tim’s problem was curable.

To that end she took with her Staff Nurse Selena Brown when after she had failed on her first three visits.

 

His unmarried sister Linda, was living with him and looking after him but the cure Olivia had in mind was not something his sister should administer, it was love and not familial love.

Linda let them in and then excused herself as she had some shopping to do.

Olivia and Selena walked up the stairs and found Tim lying in his bed in the unlit room with his eyes closed as if he’d fallen asleep.

But she knew he was awake, he was pretending to be asleep so that she wouldn’t be able to shower him with banalities and clichés and encouragements to make him pull himself together.

“Hello Tim” she said but there was no response as she slipped off her coat.

“I’ve bought someone with me today” she said “This is Selena”

As she had gone to his house straight from work she was still wearing her sister’s uniform, as was Selena.

“Oh dear it seems he not interested” Selena said “Oh well it appears he’s not interested in we angels of mercy”

“Oh well lets go then” Olivia said “We do have people to see who do want us to be there”

“No don’t go” he said as they reached the door

 

After three weeks she stopped taking Selena with her as she had by that stage already started to visit him on her own so she started to take her next door neighbour Darren with her but not for Tim’s benefit Darren was there for his sister Linda’s benefit. 

 

So by the end of the summer Olivia was feeling very pleased with herself, partly because she had helped Tim back from the dead so to speak by giving him something else to live for in the form of Selena Brown but also because she had, after taking Darren with her on her visits given Linda a reason to leave the house other than doing some shopping.

If only she could find someone for herself.

Downshire Diary – (75) Is there a Doctor in the House?

Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.

 

Chris Palmer was new to the area having moved to Nettlefield from Purplemere following a very acrimonious divorce.

He was a relatively good looking man who was fast approaching his 40th birthday, with a good physique and short sandy hair, greying at the temples and was possessed of piercing blue eyes.

He also had had very bad luck with the opposite sex, which was why he was now divorced, but he planned on turning over a new leaf and leaving his courting days far behind him.

As he was rubbish at picking the targets for his affection he decided the safest thing to do was stop picking.

 

After his divorce he decided not only to give up on relationships but also to give up on Purplemere, so he sold up and planned to head for pastures new.

His reason for moving to Nettlefield in particular, over all the other places he might have chosen either in Downshire or beyond, was the Heatherlands District Health Centre.

It was a large practise that serviced a large area, covering Nettlefield itself, Oxley Green, Heathervale, Oxley Ridge and Tipton and Chris had been fortunate enough to land the job as practice manager and he also found himself a nice little flat in Nettlefield.

The senior partner at the Health Centre was Dr Clarisse Lowe, a tall statuesque woman who dressed in tweed, she had Chestnut hair, a voluptuous figure, lovely long legs and a generous frontage, who was in her mid-forties and was just the kind of woman Chris would have fallen for in his previous life.

But he was a new man and besides she was probably a lesbian because she seemed to have a very close relationship with one of the practice nurses, Josie Minter, a skinny blonde girl ten years her junior.

But the fact that he suspected Clarisse was playing for the other side didn’t stop him admiring her lovely long legs or her impressive cleavage at every opportunity and Josie’s sexual orientation, if he had read the situation correctly, didn’t prevent her from flirting with him outrageously on a regular basis.

In fact her flirty behaviour led him to what was a false assumption, namely that she swung both ways, because she was very definitely straight and the close relationship she shared with the lovely Doctor Lowe was as a result of Josie being her step daughter.

 

Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.

The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.

She had been a widow for 10 years which had left her lonely but also afraid of risking her heart on someone who might end that loneliness.

 

But apart from the fact that she had vowed not to risk her broken heart again she also had instigated a policy at the practise forbidding fraternisation between members of staff, so even if she were so inclined toward Chris she wouldn’t be disposed to go against her own edict.

But the heart wants what the heart wants which was why two people who despite their reluctance to expose themselves to love again and who were very definitely not looking for a relationship, let alone love, found it anyway when they got together after having to work very closely together on the Easter weekend.

 

As a bi-product of the loving relationship Clarisse had found with Chris she scrapped the “No Fraternizing policy” which meant that the surgical gloves were off in regard to work place relationships and for the two of them that decision had far reaching consequences.

 

In the weeks that followed Clarisse’s decision it emerged that there were already numerous relationships going on in spite of her policy.

But she didn’t mind because she was so happy and then at Christmas when her step daughter Josie got together with his brother Darren a weight was lifted off her shoulders and by the following Easter

Clarisse and Chris were living together in the village of Heathervale in a six bedroom converted farmhouse that was originally her marital home which after her husband Edward’s death she shared with her stepdaughter Josie.

 

She would have thought that since Chris had arrived in her life in January Cupid had been very well employed with the staff at Heatherlands Health Centre and the immediate family and friends but as they achieved the second anniversary of their meeting he was still at it.

 

One such time for Cupid was on New Year’s Eve when Clarisse’s younger brother Simon was expected to make the journey to Heathervale to see in the New Year with his favourite sister and the man that was making her so happy.

 

Simon Pratley was forty two years old and was back in Downshire for the first time in five years.

He had been living and working in Australia for the previous ten years where he was a helicopter pilot for an oil company, but after his 12 year marriage ended in bitter divorce he decided it was time to return to the UK and more specifically Downshire.

Fortunately as he worked for Transglobal Oil and Gas Exploration, which was a multinational conglomerate, he was able to transfer to the European operation without too much difficulty.

And he managed to get three months off into the bargain which he was planning on spending with his sister.

 

The plan was that Simon Pratley would make it to Heathervale in time to see the New Year in with his sister and step niece, and their respective partners.

But the best laid plans can go awry and such was the case for Simon, firstly his arrival in the UK was 12 hours late due to mechanical problems and they had to make an unscheduled stop in Dubai where he changed flights to an Emirate’s plane and then when he landed his baggage was still in Dubai.

That put him in a very bad mood and he drove recklessly on his way to Heathervale, despite the adverse weather conditions, in an attempt to make inroads into the time he’d lost.

He was fortunate that his risk taking didn’t have dire consequences but his luck finally ran out when he was only three miles from his destination.

As he was so close to his sisters village he got complacent and when he met a car coming out of the fog in the other direction driving equally recklessly he panicked and forgot what country he was driving in and swerved right instead of left and ended up putting his hire car into a ditch. 

Due to the fog the other driver didn’t notice where he ended up and so didn’t bother stopping.

 

He was lucky, he only had a few superficial cuts and bruises when he looked in the mirror, the hire car on the other hand was buggered as was his mobile phone so he had to abandon the damaged vehicle and walk the last two miles in the damp drizzle and mist.

 

The New Year’s Eve celebration at Clarisse’s house was in essence a dinner party, and apart from Clarisse and Chris, the formers stepdaughter Josie and the latter’s Brother Darren, Doctor Karen Clarke and her Husband Michael, practise Phlebotomist Lisa Bird and her partner Erin Rose, and finally Clarisse’s cousin and fellow Doctor Sarah Goodfellow.

 

Sarah was the only one of the guests who wasn’t local to the area as she worked at the Dancingdean Health Centre in Shallowfield, and the only reason she was there apart from seeing Clarisse was to see Simon who was her childhood sweetheart.     

The only thing that split them up was a silly argument and monumental pride which prevented both of them from apologizing.

 

Simon and Sarah were made for each other which was why they both had failed marriages behind them, because they could never find anyone else who could truly make the other happy.

 

So when Sarah heard on the grapevine that Simon was returning to Downshire, and more specifically to her cousin Clarisse’s New Year’s Eve party she made a phone call to get herself an invite.

Sarah didn’t disclose her motive for being there but Clarisse knew she had an ulterior motive but she played along because she also thought they belonged together and furthermore she knew that Simon still carried a torch for her too.

 

But on the night of the party when the phone call came to say he was running late and Clarisse declared that he wouldn’t make it in time for midnight and that news was not well received by an unhappy Sarah who took solace at the news by draining her glass and then following it immediately by another.

 

On New Year’s Eve during the party the phone call came to say that Simon was running late and Clarisse declared to the other guests that he wouldn’t make it in time for midnight and that news was not well received by an unhappy Sarah who took solace at the news by draining her glass and then following it immediately by another.

 

By the time Simon trudged the final one hundred yards to his cousin’s house all the guests had gone home, apart from Sarah who was too drunk to leave.

The house was in semi darkness as he approached as everyone that remained had either retired for the night or were in the process of doing so. 

He banged loudly on the oak door and waited and was just about to bang again when he saw movement behind the glass.

The door opened slowly and a man with a good physique and short sandy hair man of a similar age to his was standing there.

“Can I help you?” he asked

“Yes hi I was looking for Clarisse” he replied “I’m Simon”

“Simon?” Clarisse said as she emerged from her hiding place behind Chris

“Hi Clarisse” Simon said

“My God are you ok?” she asked when she saw the state of him

“Oh yes” he said having forgotten about his mishap “I pranged the car a couple of miles from here”

“Well come in” she said fussily “Come in”

“Thanks” he responded

“Where are you bags?” she asked

“Dubai”

“Oh you have had an adventure haven’t you” she said “I think we’ll get you settled in the spare room and you can tell us the whole story when you’re rested, you and Chris are a similar build, you can lend him something can’t you darling?”

“Of course” Chris replied and then the two men shook hands.

 

Clarisse led the way with Simon and Chris chatting in her wake like they’d known each other for years but when they reached the guest room landing the adjacent door flew open and Sarah emerged and began

“What the fu…?”

But when she saw her heart’s desire standing there battered, bruised and soaking wet she stopped in her tracks and smiled

“What’s happened?”

“I crashed the car” he replied but was unable to hide the delight that he felt at seeing her

“Oh my poor wounded soldier” she said and took his arm and steered him towards the door “I’ll look after you”

She opened the door and allowed him to enter and just before she closed the door she said to Clarisse

“I’ll look after him, I’m a doctor you know”

“Good night then” Clarisse said and laughed and then to Chris she added “now let’s get you to bed and I’ll take care of you”

 

Once the door closed they just stood and looked at each other until Simon broke the silence

“Does that mean I’m going to feel the benefit of your bedside manner?”

“Better than that, you will be feeling the benefit of my healing hands” she said

“Oh just what the doctor ordered” he said before he added “I’ve really missed you”

“God I have missed you so much” she echoed and then they kissed.

 

It was about 8am and Clarisse and Chris were cuddled up together under the duvet when she said

“We need to get a wriggle on”

“Do we have to move?” he whined, “I’m cosy”

“Yes” she said curtly “We have to be at the surgery in two hours, and if you hadn’t been so demanding you might have had more sleep”

 

When Clarisse was showered and dressed she left Chris getting ready and went downstairs to the kitchen and found Sarah was sitting on Simon’s lap wrapped in his arms and a Duvet.

“What’s all this then?” she enquired “I didn’t expect you to be up this early”

“We haven’t been to bed yet” Sarah replied

“Oh?” Clarisse expressed with a raised eyebrow

“We’ve been talking” Sarah said in response and giggled

“And what was the result of this conversation?” she asked as she walked towards them and kissed them both

“The result is that we are re-coupled” he said

“That’s not a very romantic way of putting it but its wonderful news” Clarisse said and then remarked to Simon

“And you look better than you did last night”

“That’s because the good Doctor performed her medical expertise on me” he replied

“I don’t think I want to know any of the details” Clarisse retorted

“Oh dear I managed to make it sound dirty and it really wasn’t” he said defensively

“I am a healer” she said smugly “Dr Sarah strikes again”

“I suppose you’re feeling very pleased with yourself” Clarisse said to her as they hugged

“Well I do have a reputation to preserve” she retorted

“I have a reputation as well,” Clarisse said feigning indignantly

“Yes you do darling” she said and kissed her just as Chris, Josie and Darren entered the kitchen and after she put the kettle on they sat down and chatted over coffee.

 

After about half an hour Chris pointed out the time and Clarisse said 

“I have to get to the surgery, my patients need me, and they are obviously in awe of my prowess as a medical practitioner extraordinaire”

“No seriously” Sarah said, “Why do you have to go?”

“Cheeky cow” Clarisse said and tried to clip her round the ear, but she dodged the blow and high fived Josie.

Clarisse then kissed them all good bye and she and Chris went to the surgery.

 

Clarisse and Chris returned to the house in the middle of the afternoon and found Sarah and Simon cuddled up under a duvet on the sofa, Sarah was fast asleep but Simon’s eyes were open and he smiled when he saw her.

“Have you two had a nice day?” she whispered

“Very nice” he replied and slipped out from under the duvet and her out of the room and kissed her cheek.  

“While you’ve been spending the day canoodling under the duvet I sorted your car out” Clarisse said

“In what way?” he asked

“I phoned Richards Recovery and they towed the car to the garage” She said “And they will notify the hire company”

“You are an amazing woman” he said

“No, Sarah is an amazing woman” she corrected him “so don’t let her slip through your fingers again”

“I have no intention to” he assured her

“In that case” she said “let’s all go out for dinner to celebrate”

“We would love to but…” he began

“But what?” she asked

“I don’t have any clothes” he said

“Good point, I’ll go and ask Chris to sort something out for you” she suggested “which will tide you over until your luggage catches up with you”

“If that’s ok” he said

“Of course it is he’s got more clothes than I do” Clarisse said

“I’m glad you found someone” he said

“So am I” she responded “I never thought I would find love again, but I have and I love him to bits”

“It shows”

“Good, I want everyone to know” she said 

Downshire Diary – (74) The Ginger Amazonian Conclusion

Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton but our story begins considerably further south in the Finchbottom Vale although the players in this tale come from every corner of the county.

 

A group of University friends were camping at the Eastern end of the Finchbottom Vale, on the Maxlins camp site in Sharpinghead that was once a working railway station before it fell afoul of Dr Beeching and his draconian cuts.

The campsite was attached to Maxlin’s Holiday Camp and although the campgrounds were nothing to do with Maxlin’s, all those attending did have day passes to use some of the amenities.

 

They were just spending a week relaxing before they returned to Abbottsford University for their 3rd year.

One of them was Sean Hallows who had gone to Maxlins with his long term girlfriend Daisy.

He was a rather ordinary looking lad, a bit of a bean pole with scruffy blonde hair and a bad complexion, the only remarkable thing about him was his heart. 

 

He had to return to his tent one morning after breakfast because he had forgotten his phone.

“Get my sunnies while youre there” his girlfriend Daisy said

“Ok” he retorted and set off at pace. 

They were about ten minutes walk frrom the food hall but with his great long strides he did it in five and he went to Daisy’s tent first and went inside without hesitation as he knew where she kept her sun glasses.

But as soon as he got inside he stopped dead in his tracks as her best friend Katie Bell was still in the tent, though not still in her sleeping bag, in fact she wasn’t in very much at all really.

She was kneeling down, facing the flaps, pulling a T-shirt over her head, apart from that she was only wearing her underwear.

Sean stood motionless by the opening spellbound by the vision of the girl he had been in love with for almost a year.

She was a big Ginger Amazon of a girl almost as tall as he was, long limbed, busty and beautiful, well he certainly thought so, which was why when he came upon her in a state of near undress he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and there was a lot of her to look at.

Katie hadn’t noticed him at first as her long ginger locks had fallen across her face but when she did she made no attempt to cover herself and chose instead to glare at him.

In utter embarassment and uttering appologies he retreated to his own tent red faced but she pursued him and as it was her spectacular nakedness that had caused his blushing she quizzed him over his peeping when he all but confessed the truth to her about his love of her and then they lay in his tent and shared a kiss that they had both longed for over the previous year.

The following couple of days there was a little awkwardness between them, but not because they felt guilty for what they did, the kiss was electrifying, so the reason for the awkwardness was simply that they wanted to do it again although neither of them actualy knew how the other one felt.

However on the third day while most of the group were on a day trip to Pepperstock Castle they spent the day in Katie’s tent where they spent much of the day in eachothers arms.

“Daisy is so lucky” she sighed as she lay with her head on his chest.

“I don’t think she would agree” he replied as she kissed his chest

“Why?”

“She doesn’t really like kissing and cuddling or sex for that matter” he explained

“What?” she asked incredulously as her lips moved to his neck.

“Daisy doesn’t really like it” he repeated

“You mean she doesn’t like this?” She asked as she kissed from his neck across his cheek to his mouth.

“She’s not as enthuiastic about it as you” he said as she returned her lips to his neck

“What a waste” Katie said

 

After that afternoon canoodling in her tent they only had one more chance to embrace when they managed half an hour for a kiss in the

disabled toilet.

 

And following the holiday they went their separate ways for the remainder of the summer break and when they got back to Abbottsford for their final year the awkwardness between Katie and Sean returned.

The problem was, that Katie, Daisy and Sean all lived in the same house along with three other friends.

It was an old Victorian house with the rooms spread over three floors, Katie and Daisy had rooms on the ground floor while Sean’s was on the top floor, so it was very difficult for him to either get to his room or to Daisy’s without bumping into Katie.

Not that he didn’t like seeing her, he did, very much, but being so close and not being able to embrace was torture.

But after there last kiss at Maxlins camp site they both agreed that they should call a halt to the affair before it went too far as it wasn’t fair on Daisy.

 

However things suddenly changed one day in October when as she walked out of her room towards the bathroom Katie saw Daisy rush past and then heard the front door slam.

 

At the same moment Sean slipped out of Daisy’s room into the hall and to his surprise he met Katie coming the other way, wrapped in a towel.

He did a double take, thinking “where the hell did she come from”, he thought Daisy and he had the house to themselves.

Katie didn’t speak at first she just looked at him before she said accusingly

“Did you just upset Daisy?”

“Not exactly” he replied

“Then what did you do?” she asked

“I didn’t do anything” he said

“Well something upset her” she pointed out

“Well it wasn’t me” Sean said

“Well if you didn’t upset her then what’s got into the silly cow” Katie snapped

“That’s not a very nice thing to say about your friend” he said reproachfully

“I know” she admitted “I’m just jealous that she’s your girlfriend”

“Ah” he uttered

“If I was really being mean I would point out that I’m prettier than she is and that I like snogging” she reiterated

“Just a bit” he said

“Just a bit, just a bit” she repeated disbelievingly

“In fact I love it” she added and kissed him and afterwards she said.

“I’m sorry, I know we said it had to stop, but I couldn’t resist”

“You won’t hear me complain” he remarked

“It’s a shame it’s not the time for Katie to get Daisy’s fellas lips” she said wistfully looking into his eyes

“They’re not hers” he said

“What do you mean?” Katie asked

“They’re not Daisy’s lips” Sean said

“They’re more hers than mine” Katie pointed out

“Not anymore they’re not”

“What do you mean?” she asked

“She’s dumped me” he said

“Why?” she asked with alarm “Was it because of us?”

“No” he replied “it turns out she’s in love with someone else”

“My God who?” she asked

“India”

“India?” she asked “India, who went on holiday with us?”

“Yes”

“The little mousy girl with the wonky eye?” she asked

“Yes that India” he confirmed

“You mean Daisy’s a Les?” Katie asked indelicately

“Yes” he replied “which kind of explains why she didn’t like sex much”

“She’s a Les?” Katie repeated

“Apparently so”

“I wonder why she never tried anything with me” she mused

“Go figure” he retorted

“I know it’s unfathomable” she said with a frown

“Never mind that just ponder the question, if Daisy is a lesbian and she’s dumped me then….” He said and she just looked blankly at him still wearing the frown and then suddenly she exclaimed

“Oh” she exclaimed and the frown faded to be replaced with smile

“So does this mean that you’re mine now?”

“Only if you want me” he replied

“All for me” she said “and no sharing”

“That’s the general idea” Sean said

“Cool” Katie said

“Is that a yes then?” he asked

“I’ll let you know after I’ve had a kiss”

She replied

“Well I don’t think I want to just on a maybe” he said

“There’s no maybe about it” she confessed “You know I want you”

“Good” he said “then I’m all yours”

“And only mine?” she asked

“And only yours” he agreed

“Goody” she said “Now it’s time for Katie Bell to kiss her boyfriend”

Downshire Diary – (73) The Homecoming Muse

 Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins in the East, or more precisely, 20 miles inland from Sharpington-By-Sea, equidistant between Finchbottom and Pepperstock Green, in the sprawling village of Denmead.

 

Owen Carrington’s Uncle Glyn died on New Year’s Day and left him his Cottage and a small cash sum, more than enough to keep him going for a few more years.

He left it to him because he felt they were kindred spirits, he wanted to be a writer himself but his father made him get a proper job, Owen really liked him and he was a great story teller, and it was his Uncles colourful tales that helped him when he was writing his novels.

His death came as a great shock as it was sudden though not unsurprising given his health.

 

So that was how he found himself living in a lovely Victorian Cottage in the quaint Downshire Village of Denmead.

It was a very tranquil place though not without its distractions. 

From his study he could look out through the open French windows and across the expanse of lawn to a stand of ancient woodland, there was no fence to separate garden and wood the two just merged.

And on the other side of the wood was the hub of the village, the Green Oak, everyone seemed to go there at some point, either for a drink, the restaurant or the coffee suite.

 

As a writer Owen’s star was definitely in the ascendency after the success of his first Romantic novel “The Maiden Muse” but the change in the fortunes of his writing career were not universally well received, his publisher liked it, his new agent loved it, the bank manager was ecstatic about it but his mother was disappointed by it because she thought it was a bit girlie.

 

But it wasn’t just his writing career that was climbing high, so was his love life thanks to his muse and lover, Juliana Molesworth, who had brought his writers block to an end, and since she had become his muse he had become a writer of bodice ripping romances which had proved to be an occupation which suited him very well indeed.

And it suited him in many ways, but the main benefit was that he was able to work at home, so he had no tedious commute every day and his working day was flexible to the point that some days he didn’t write at all.

This afforded him the opportunity of playing a round of Golf during the working week when most people had their noses to the grindstone or even taking a day out to go fishing.

 

Owen Carrington’s muse and lover Juliana Molesworth, was in her third year at the University of Downshire where she studied English at Abbottsford.

In the short time they had been together she had come to mean everything to him so in the final weeks of the year he did something that rocked her world, he asked her to marry him, and she said yes.

 

Since the day of the proposal they missed each other terribly while she was at University and he was in Denmead time hung heavy so he was really looking forward to her coming home for the three week Christmas break.

 

Due to some heavy snow fall over night and him having to clear the drive before he could get the car out of the garage, he was about forty minutes late leaving for the drive to Abbottsford.

He called ahead to let Juliana know he was running late but she was ok about it as she was all behind herself.

 

He got to Juliana’s place around one o’clock and miracle of miracles she was ready to go.

Half an hour after he finished loading the car they finally got away when she had finished saying her goodbyes of course.

 

When they got back to Denmead he thought Juliana would be eager to be reunited with her nearest and dearest, but it turned out that she was more eager to be reunited with him.

“Don’t take me home yet” she said as they entered the village

“Aren’t you in a hurry to see your mum and dad?” he asked

“Yes, but I want to spend a couple of hours with my fiancé first” she said

“I like the way that sounds” Owen replied

 

He parked on the drive and walked to the door and went inside and they had barely got through the front door before she launched herself at him and kissed him.

“Merry Christmas” she said

 

They spent a pleasant couple of hours cuddling on the sofa as they watched a classic Christmas movie and when it was finished he was allowed to take her home to be reunited with her family.

 

It was starting to snow again as he reversed onto the Molesworth’s drive, it was little more than a flurry really, barely even enough to qualify as a light shower.

He unloaded the car while Juliana rushed inside and hugged her waiting parents and he traipsed in with her stuff amidst the scene of reuniting embraces and jovial laughter.

And after a farewell kiss when his duties were fulfilled he left the Molesworth’s to their reunion and drove home.

But he knew he would see his homecoming muse again the next day. 

Downshire Diary – (72) French Cuisine

 

Danny Popkin was not looking forward to another boring business dinner the latest in a long line of such wasted evenings and at 35 years of age he was really looking for something more in his social life, in fact he was actually looking for more in his life.

Certainly something more than just another fabulous restaurant for yet another expensive meal or as they say another “dining experience” at someone else’s expense.

He pulled up outside the latest restaurant, this time The Runcible Spoon in Purplemere, a place of great renown, but he still had a feeling of dread, despite the great venue, wonderful cuisine and the great ambience, it was just as he expected, more boring business talk, more boring company, basically more people who like him didn’t really want to be there.

But after the pre-dinner drinks, quelle surprise, out of the blue and quite unexpected, une jeune fille, and how pretty she was, la belle fille, Florence Clerembeax, the niece of the financial director from the Paris office, a petite well-tanned girl with huge brown eyes and long hair the colour of burnt caramel.

“Quelle jolie fillee” Jason thought
“Do you mind if she joins us?” her father asked
As if they would mind, a bunch of boring business men having dinner or a bunch of boring business men and a beautiful young woman having dinner.
No contest as far as Jason was concerned because he was instantly besotted by the beautiful young woman.
When the waiter came, the American next to him ordered a steak, well done
“And for you monsieur?” he asked Jason
“I’ll take her, any way she comes” he said in his head but when he looked across at Florence she was smiling as if she knew what impure thoughts filled his head about a girl 12 years younger than him.

“I’ll have the same” he said ordering something he didn’t really want, to cover his embarrassment over his impure thoughts about what he did want.

His thoughts extended to every aspect of her, and what she would look like as he peeled through the layers of silk, satin and lace.

He wanted her to tantalise all his senses, sight, sound, smell, touch and taste,

His sight had already been fed but he wanted more, her sound was sweet and her accent seductive, the smell of her perfumed scented skin was exotic and intoxicating, and touch which had been restricted to a hand shake and so he felt her electrifying touch on his skin but the taste was as yet unfulfilled.     

But all through the meal knowing looks were exchanged and every time their eyes met he felt like a schoolboy again, and still he was convinced she could read his mind.

They laughed and joked and pretty much ignored the rest of the table, but all too soon the evening was over and everyone went their separate ways and Jason was deflated as he got into his taxi.

Until that is he reached his Hotel and sitting in reception of the Worsted Viper Hotel was a smiling Florence.

“How did you kno…” he began but she silenced him with her lips and he finally got the taste of her.